Drunken termites eating away at our neighborhoods

After recent news reports describing altercations between long-time residents and new student renters, the Austin Chronicle reports this week that Jamie Lipman, the founder of the 37th Street light display, is selling his house and moving in order to get away from the year-round noise and traffic generated by student residents.

Out-of-state landlords are the real problem here. We’ve heard reports of it in our own neighborhood, just north of UT. Not all students. Not even most students. But a very vocal minority of them are just really lacking in the appropriate adult supervision, and they act like you’re infringing on their rights as Americans to do whatever the fuck they please. They only listen when the police show up.

I don’t know what kind of zoning or planning or legislation can be a substitute for educated adults just acting like educated adults for a change.

Bruce Sterling’s Heavy Weather predicted a future where Hyde Park eventually became a ghetto wholly owned by the University of Texas, and some semesters it seems like we’re headed that way.

Meanwhile another piece of old Austin culture is endangered so that Travis Studly and his frat boy homeys can party all night, every night.

I hope the 37th Street lights survive, but I can’t say I blame the Lipmans for wanting to raise their kids somewhere else, given what has reportedly transpired in his neighborhood.

25 Comments so far

The problem is not out of state landlords. Check the tax rolls of West Campus, North University and Hyde Park and you’ll find plenty of multiple unit housing owners with addresses in Houston, Dallas and elsewhere in Texas. I know of several in North University that live elsewhere in greater Austin, including my landlady.

I agree that absentee landlords are a problem, since they seem to care little about the character of their tenants so long as they can pay the deposit and the first month’s rent. But it is not the responsibility of the landlord to babysit their tenants. The solution to the problems on 37th Street is community based policing, but I doubt that APD would ever embrace such a progressive idea.

On the topic on student ghettos, I must admit that I find it laughable when people complain about “quality of life” issues in such places. I know a woman who bought a house in West Campus who is tearing her hair out over the things that go down on her street every night. It’s hard to feel sorry for her though, because she CHOSE to live in West Campus. Bad behavior in student ghettos comes with the territory. And I’ve lived near 37th Street long enough to know it’s not a new occurance there.

Ray, your reactionary post and sensational headline are akin to something I would hear on Fox News. Your blame on out of state landlords (which of course implies Californians, a favorite target these days) is completely misplaced. Your doomsday prediction for Hyde Park will not come true, because the Hyde Park Baptist Church is a greater threat to fabric and character of the neighborhood than student housing. At issue here is the decline of civility in American society, something that is far to complicated to address at length here.

I like to think of Metroblogging Austin as a supplement (and at times an alternative) to the Austin Chronicle, and for the most part I find the posts well written. But every so often a post comes along like this one that makes me shake my head. If I want to subject myself to reactionary garbage like this, I’ll go watch the local news.

My choice of words was poor, and in fact I did mean absentee landlords, not just out-of-state ones. Apologies, it’s just that my own peeve neighbors do happen to live in a rental where the problems started as soon as our lovely on-premises neighbor/landlord moved away and sold her duplex to a California company.

I am also a landlord, and you’re damn right I have some responsibility if my tenants are breaking the law to the extent that they’re creating a nuisance in the neighborhood.

This is how NUNA is responding to the recent increases in noise disturbances in their neighborhood, here.

Note that APD strongly encourages noise complainants to “…request that the attending officer obtain the names and dates of birth of all the subjects for the report. (This information may be used to file other criminal charges, pursue civil litigation with the tenant or landlord, and if the defendants are students, to contact parents or seek disciplinary action with the university.)”

Which sounds to me like both NUNA and the APD believe that property owners bear some responsibility for repeated lawbreaking by tenants.

Claiming “Oh, it’s a student ghetto, you should expect that kind of behavior” is a cop-out. Given the immense size of the University and the lack of adequate housing on-campus or near campus, nearly every Austin neighborhood over 50 years old is a potential “student ghetto”. You claim that “decline of civility in American society” is to blame, yet you give a Get Out Of Jail Free card to any student living in a student ghetto, defined as “anywhere students live”…in other words, students can do whatever they want wherever they want and civility be damned.

Since you hold the Chronicle in such high regard (as do I), you might want to take a look at this earlier article from them about the 37th Street situation. Experiences of very long-time residents of the neighborhood seem to contradict yours.

Since I already stated that there is no substitute for adults acting like adults, which would seem to be largely the same thing as your call for civility, I don’t really grok the “reactionary garbage” accusations. Certainly if you’re counting on Austin Metroblogging to be just an adjunct entertainment and culture guide to the Chronicle, I think you’ve got us pegged wrong. I refer you to the Metroblogging New Orleans page for some examples of rants that make me look like a little kitty cat.

Finally…Fox News?! Jeezus, isn’t there a Godwin’s Law corollary for that kind of talk? ;)

To present a third pole to the geography of this discussion, I, personally, blame the folks running the center-city neighborhood organizations for the last couple of decades who basically shut down all apartment development near UT for most of that time (finally starting to have their grip on the City Council loosened about the time the Villas on Guadalupe made it through despite their vicious and obnoxious opposition).

If, as would have happened in a city run by responsible adults rather than pander-to-neighborhood-lunatics-at-all-costs-types like Jackie Goodman, we had built BIG BIG BIG buildings along Guadalupe and points further west (within walking distance of campus) when demand was indicated, instead of playing catch-up only TODAY, we wouldn’t have nearly as many kids in rental houses – because, frankly, most college kids could give a crap if they have a yard – they’d probably rather have a pool and a workout room. But they sure as hell might rather live in a house within a bike ride of campus than in a crappy apartment on Far West or Riverside where they get a long, unreliable, and jerky shuttle-bus ride to school every day…

(I live nextdoor to a duplex full of UT Wranglers who have been problematic at times despite having a very responsible landlord – the guy who sold me the house and moved near Far West to be closer to Anderson High. Even with a good landlord, I feel bad about calling as much as I do – this is Not Fun Stuff).

Out of state landlords are not the problem on 37th. Neither are out of town landlords. If you check the rolls at TCAD, you’ll see that a disproportionate number of rental properties on 37th are owned by one man, and he’s from Austin.

There’s more to the story on 37th St. I’ve written about it in my own blog.

Here’s a direct link to Adam’s post. I have to agree that the location of the landlord isn’t really a predictor of whether or not you’ll have problems with tenants. It certainly makes it harder to get them to comply if there are problems.

I live near the Wickersham/Oltorf/Parker area which is full of apartments and I still have the same problems with renters both students and otherwise, so it’s not just a hyde park / close to campus issue.

I totally sympathize with Ray. My alma mater was surrounded by beautiful historic homes, but these were falling to pieces because neither the transient tenants nor the landlords, who were guaranteed steady demand every year, had any incentive to keep the property in shape.

I don’t think this issue can be shrugged away since it happens everywhere with all rental properties, or because “Bad behavior in student ghettos comes with the territory.” Regardless of who exactly is to blame and where exactly they live, this is just sad – these are historic neighborhoods, with their own culture, the kind of place it’s getting harder and harder to find anywhere. It’s worth doing something about. Further, having a “boys will be boys” attitude toward misbehavior will do nothing to address any perceived decline of civility in American society.

Which leads me to this statement, made without any irony that I could discern: “your reactionary post and sensational headline are akin to something I would hear on Fox News…If I want to subject myself to reactionary garbage like this, I’ll go watch the local news.”

I wouldn’t call the title “sensational.” I’d say it has “personality.” This is a blog, isn’t it? Don’t people read blogs to get a personal take on matters? And wow, a comparison to both Fox News *and* the local news – that’s like throwing in Stalin with your Hitler comparison.

Hiromi states in her post that “beautiful historic homes…[have] fallen to pieces…because transient tenants…[did not have] any incentive to keep the property in shape”. Yes, there are many beautiful historic homes in North University and Hyde Park. There are also many old dilapidated houses. Don’t confuse the two. Why should the transient tenants be charged with the upkeep of their properties? Maintenance is the landlord’s responsibility. That being said, my neighbors and I were forced to spend money, time and effort making repairs to our fourplex (one of the “beautiful historic homes you mention) due to the landlady’s negligence. I know other renters in the area that have had to do the same.

I am not shrugging off the issue of bad behavior in student ghettos. My point is that I have little sympathy for someone who moves into a known student ghetto, only to cry foul when they wake up one night to find frat boys vomiting and/or urinating on their lawn.

Hiromi, you say that the problem is worth doing something about. I offered community based policing as a solution. What do you suggest?

Where did I mention Hitler in my post? I don’t recall making any comparisons to him, and a review of my original post shows that I did not.

I have lived in Hyde Park and North University for six years. In that time the property values in those areas have skyrocketed, but the condition of many of the rental properties there has worsened. This is largely due to greedy landlords. According to the tax rolls, the value of the fourplex I live in has doubled over the past five years. In the three years I have lived there I can count on one hand the number of times the landlady has visited to deal with maintenance issues. She is making money hand over fist, and in the process she is allowing the building to slowly decline. And she is not an out of state landlord – she lives a few blocks away in Hyde Park. My building is not an isolated case, as I have heard similar stories from other tenants in North University.

I share M1EK’s disdain for neighborhood associations. I went to a NUNA meeting once, and no one there took me seriously because I am a renter. One of the discussion topics at the meeting was noise. I found it ironic, considering that my neighbors on one side (two young urban professionals who own their home) make more noise (largely with their late night barbecue parties) than the students that live in my building or across the street. I remember the Villas at Guadalupe controversy, and how the people in Hemphill Park said its construction would sound the death knell for their neighborhood. I haven’t noticed any change in the area since the Villas were built, other than that home prices continue to spiral.

On the other hand, Julio, I reject the notion that North University and Hyde Park were well-known “student ghettos” and therefore people should have been prepared to get pissed and puked on. These are (and were, and hopefully will continue to be) MIXED neighborhoods of BOTH students AND non-students. There’s families here with little kids (both our house and the one next door to us, as well as Ray and a bunch of his neighbors), there’s retirees, there’s childless couples, and yes, there’s students.

“student ghettos” to me are places like the low-density apartment sprawl off Riverside. IE, pretty much ALL students. West Campus, maybe.

I agree about NUNA and renters. I was pissed off enough by their stance (public at the time – they had an indicator on their website that basically said you couldn’t join the real email list unless you were a property owner as well as a member of the NA) to have stayed out of it as well even though I’m a homeowner – to be honest, I’ve probably had more impact sniping at them from outside than I would had I gotten entangled in hand-holding consensus crap anyways. Clarksville/OWANA wasn’t this bad (outright welcoming renters and multifamily unit owners) when I lived there, but it has also taken a turn for the worse since then.

My remark about my lack of sympathy for people moving into student ghettos was in reference to my previous post, where I mention the woman in West Campus. She knew the area’s reputation and moved there anyway. I don’t mean to imply that North University and Hyde Park are student ghettos. Likewise, I don’t think people who move to these areas sould be prepared to be “pissed and puked on” (like in West Campus). I moved to North University four years ago as a student and continue to stay there as a professional because I like the neighborhood.

I think the reasons for the decline of 37th Street are well stated in Adam Rice’s blog, and I believe they are reflective of changes in North University and Hyde Park at large. His observation about property taxes is right on the money (no pun intended). It makes me wonder if the continual rise in property taxes will force out more homeowners, thereby allowing slumlords to scoop up their properties, convert them to student rentals and then make a mint off the equity while allowing the houses to dilapidate…

1. They penalize urban areas like ours (the cost of most stuff the city and county spend money on have nothing to do with the value of the land or the property; but on the SIZE of that land)

2. They OUGHT to be a market signal that more high-density development is appropriate in these locations (and, in fact, that’s what would have happened pre-zoning). What’s wrong with bulldozing these crappy rental houses and putting up a nicer block of apartments or condos? (It would be hard for a block of apartments or condos to be any worse than those houses, after all).

While the neighborhood nuts would back me on #1, they’d absolutely oppose me on #2, and they’d pretend it had something to do with “preserving neighborhood character” when, to me, a neighborhood with good apartments or condos beats the hell out of a neighborhood with crappy houses.

And when you use regulatory tools to interfere drastically with the operation of the market, don’t be surprised when unforeseen negative consequences bite you in the ass. To whit: Fewer people interested in owning and living in homes can afford to, so more slumlords buy them. Problem is that way too many people still think nobody ever buys condo units intending to live in them.

‘Hiromi states in her post that “beautiful historic homes…[have] fallen to pieces…because transient tenants…[did not have] any incentive to keep the property in shape”. Yes, there are many beautiful historic homes in North University and Hyde Park. There are also many old dilapidated houses. Don’t confuse the two.’

I haven’t. I was talking about the neighborhoods surrounding my alma mater, which is not UT.

‘Why should the transient tenants be charged with the upkeep of their properties?’

I stated that they have no incentive to do so. That was merely an observation; nothing else was implied. However, I do believe that thinking human beings shouldn’t abuse the property (as was seen in the houses in the neighborhood I was speaking of) or annoy their neighbors. That is not an unreasonable demand.

‘Maintenance is the landlord’s responsibility.’

Agreed.

‘My point is that I have little sympathy for someone who moves into a known student ghetto, only to cry foul when they wake up one night to find frat boys vomiting and/or urinating on their lawn.’

Well, I’m all for different types of people moving into these neighborhoods and hopefully changing their character. Further, there may have be unknown factors which lead the woman to purchase a house there — I don’t think she somehow had this poor treatment coming to her. The real culprits are the idiots vomiting on her lawn. Whether or not the place in question is a student ghetto is irrelevant. That kind of behavior is just plain stupid and unacceptable. I’m incline to agree that perhaps community-based policing would be the most feasible solution to that kind of problem.

‘Hiromi, you say that the problem is worth doing something about. I offered community based policing as a solution. What do you suggest?’

I suggest that the Giant Larva on I35 be converted into a capsule hotel.

‘Where did I mention Hitler in my post? I don’t recall making any comparisons to him, and a review of my original post shows that I did not.’

M1EK, I agree with your observation that the areas around UT need more high density housing. Affordably-priced condominiums (pipe dream, anyone?) would increase the owner- to renter-occupied ratio in transitional areas like 37th Street, thereby making them more stable. But like you said, if you were to suggest this idea so an NA (NUNA immediately comes to mind), they would flip out. They would argue against them for fears of higher traffic volumes and change in the character of the neighborhood, like they always do. While I support your suggestion, I think it presents a potential catch-22 situation. If the condos were built, what would prevent people from buying them as “spec” properties and renting them out? I know of a few condos in the vicinity of 32nd and Red River where this is common. If the condos essentially function as rental units, wouldn’t that excerbate the stability problem with the new units tipping the owner- to renter-occupied ratio in favor to the latter group?

The key is that the other owners in a condominium building typically restrain the worst behavior of the potential bad landlords. Usually the condo association has rules built in that allow for penalizing landlords who don’t kick out badly behaving tenants, for instance, which doesn’t work for rental houses.

Anectdotal, but during the 6 years I lived in one of 14 condo units near Fresh Plus in Clarksville, I only ever had one bad semester as far as noise went, and even then it was just a few nights. Most of that year and all of the other years, I could sleep with the windows open; while at my house in NUNA, I have had a dozen nights or so over 2 years so far where I couldn’t sleep with the windows _closed_ until calling the landlord or the police. Windows _open_? Haven’t even bothered to try for months.

More anecdotes: the 7 years I lived on a block in Clarkesville which was all single family or duplexes, and which was about 50% renters, the only noise that ever disturbed us was the Missouri-Pacific.

Maybe it’s a difference between student and non-student renters. Maybe it’s some other cultural difference between Clarkesville and North University. Maybe it’s just coincidence. Or maybe college students in the 2000’s really are just louder and dumber than previous generations. ;)

Moral of the story: Why The Hell Did We Move Away From Clarksville? Well, in our case, we couldn’t find a place with 3 bedrooms we could afford, since once you go that high (in condos), you get bumped up to the luxury market…

Julio writes:I remember the Villas at Guadalupe controversy, and how the people in Hemphill Park said its construction would sound the death knell for their neighborhood. I haven’t noticed any change in the area since the Villas were built, other than that home prices continue to spiral.

1. How do you know if there is “any change”? Surveys? Gut feeling? 2. Spiraling home prices are not enough to kill the neighborhood?

I went to a NUNA meeting once, and no one there took me seriously because I am a renter.

That would all work except that I still live in NUNA (as does, I believe, Julio), and to me, the only thing that’s changed since I moved here is even worse student behavior in rental HOUSES. The Villas are blissfully QUIET compared to the HOUSES that you and your ilk ‘preserved’.

“Inky”, I’ve lived in the neighborhood long enough to notice changes as they occur. The homeowners in Hemphill Park were convinced that the construction of the Villas at Guadalupe would create parking and traffic problems in their neighborhood (and by that, I mean the area directly abutting Hemphill Park). I have yet to see that. A Hemphill Park resident told me she was afraid that the proximity of student housing would lower her property value. If anything, the opposite has happened. Spiraling home prices could eventually play a part in killing the neighborhood, but this phenomenon began long before the construction of the Villas at Guadalupe.

The NUNA people treated me with indifference when I told them I was a renter. When I went to the meeting I was unaware of their bylaw that makes the NA essentially a private club for homeowners, despite the large number of renters in the NA. Therefore, it wouldn’t have mattered if I had gone to more meetings. M1EK and I have already discussed this on this thread. I suggest you go back and read the previous posts more carefully.

Yeah, M1EK, that’s too bad about all those awful undestroyed houses. Wouldn’t Austin be great if it were nothing but Villas, as far as the eye can see?

Anyway, I might not be of the “ilk” that you assume I am. I’m for high density near the university, and I suspect the Villas were a good idea that was long overdue. That doesn’t mean the NA’s concerns aren’t legitimate. I’m curious about the effect on the neighborhood, beyond what individuals perceive about noise levels and bad behavior.

Julio, what a tired response this is: “I suggest you go back and read the previous posts more carefully.” I did read your kvetching about the NA. I just wanted to emphasize this fact, which you do not dispute: you only went to one meeting.

If you don’t like the bylaws, work to change them. That could be hard, though — it will be a challenge finding enough renters who give a crap enough to show up and do the work.

At my NA, the people that make up the backbone of the group (not me) have been working hard at it for years. Renter or not, when you come to your first meeting, you shouldn’t expect to do much but listen.

Yes, it means the NA’s concerns were illegitimate – since they essentially LIED to the residents of the city in order to make their case look better; expressing concern about the supposed mass of students driving to campus during rush hour from these apartments.

(Think about that for a moment; where, just where, exactly, would those students park that wasn’t just about as far away as their parking space at home?)

Inky, at the sole NUNA meeting I attended, the conclave of homeowners told me politely, but in no uncertain terms, that I was not welcome because I did not own property in the neighborhood. What the fuck was I supposed to do? Stage a one person sit-in at someone’s house? What would YOU have done? I can’t “work to change the bylaws” if I’m not welcome in the homes where the meetings are taking place.

If you had gone back and read the previous posts you would have seen M1EK’s post where he mentions that all NAs are not the same. That was the point of my so-called tired response. I know renters who live in other parts of town where the NAs give them a voice. That has not been my experience in NUNA.

I live in Galveston and have recently had a neighbor (renter) move across the street who plays extremely loud music, stands on the street side drinking beer (when he finishes his beer he throws the can on the ground). I’ve contacted police about the public drinking, yet it continues. I recently contacted an organization in California called Neighborhood Solutions. They recommend keeping a log of your police calls (get the incident number from the dispatcher). Document with pictures, movies, etc. In California the landlord can be sued by each member of the household who is affected. They recommend getting 20 people to sue in small claims for the maximum amount. I believe that the maximum in Texas is $5,000.00.
Being sued for $100,000.00 should get the landlord’s attention. They’ve gone so far as taking possesion of the property, selling it and putting the money in a fund to continue their work. This has been an effective strategy for them in cleaning up drug houses as well.

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